ktc,
re: "U.S. workers should be treated as an unfortunate expense item, like office furniture and utility bills. People aren't important."
You're displaying a remarkable lack of business sense.
Your first sentence is exactly right - but I know you meant it to be sarcastic. There is a reason why Personnel departments around the world have changed their names to "Human Resources" - because workers ARE very much akin to office furniture resources and energy resources.
Businesses do not hire workers as charity. They hire them because they are needed and worth what they're being paid. In this respect, they ARE an unfortunate expense that businesses would rather not have to pay.
Your second sentence is ridiculous. People aren't important to a business? Of course they are - just as office furniture and energy are important.
Beyond the business aspect there is the HUMAN aspect - which is a very different thing. Whether business owners do, or do NOT, have an afinity for their workers, is a personal matter, not to be confused with business reasons for hiring, maintaining and releasing workers. I would argue that businesses that talk as if they love their workers are in the "maintaining" phase. A happy worker is a productive worker... most of the time.
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